Huge improvement
The product has improved ten fold over the last two years. I’ve been a user for five years and I saw big improvement on stability.
I use the product mainly for education purpose.
I use the product mainly for education purpose.
Poor OCR
The OCR capability was a big part of why I purchased this pen. Unfortunately, the hardware is only as good as the software that processes its data. For example: I wrote a full page of notes, but only the first few words are read in the OCR. The notes on the rest of the page are visible, so this isn't a syncing issue. There is also no option available to ask the program to repeat the OCR process on any given 'snippet' within the feed. Similarly, there is no option to OCR the entire page and export that. This is a serious limitation, particularly when efficiency is the purpose of the whole enterprise. There should be a built-in option to export a whole page to OCR text and to push that to one of the supported cloud services (ex. Evernote or Dropbox). Furthermore, the website is a mess. Finding the desktop download links is much, much less straightforward than it should be. If Livescribe wants to secure the professional market (ex. lawyers, physicians), this is a mandatory improvement in order for the system to be professionally viable.
Finally, one of the advertised functions is digitizing drawings (a picture of a dog drawn on unruled paper is in the promotional images). However, there is no unruled paper option available either by purchasing through the store or by download. This is, in my opinion, false advertising. Furthermore, for anyone who might be looking for an art-based use for livescribe, since the camera is dependent on a proprietary dot grid to function, the pen will be unable to recognize any drawing with more than very simple, unweighted line work. This limitation is inherent to the system, and while not the main reason I purchased the pen, is worth being aware of.
Finally, one of the advertised functions is digitizing drawings (a picture of a dog drawn on unruled paper is in the promotional images). However, there is no unruled paper option available either by purchasing through the store or by download. This is, in my opinion, false advertising. Furthermore, for anyone who might be looking for an art-based use for livescribe, since the camera is dependent on a proprietary dot grid to function, the pen will be unable to recognize any drawing with more than very simple, unweighted line work. This limitation is inherent to the system, and while not the main reason I purchased the pen, is worth being aware of.
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App crashing and freezing
Moving away from having the recording device built into the smart pen was the end of the viability of this product as a business tool. The app is unreliable and inflexible. It crashes during playback at least twice during an hour-long recording. It freezes every time I try to access my pencasts through the pencast menu item, so I have to go through my entire notebook to find the one I want. There’s no way to edit a pencast audio recording directly in the app, either. There’s also no option to skip ahead or back 10-15 seconds during playback in the app.
I wish I hadn’t used my Echo to death, or I wish I was able to find a working one from a real seller. I replaced it with a Livescribe 3, and use it as one of my accommodations at work. But it’s just too unreliable. I’m starting to shop around for a product to replace it.
Update: So, I just read more of the reviews, and the app has been TERRIBLE for ALMOST A DECADE!!!!!! Hey, Livescribe! Stop putting out new products until you fix the existing ones!!!!!!!
I wish I hadn’t used my Echo to death, or I wish I was able to find a working one from a real seller. I replaced it with a Livescribe 3, and use it as one of my accommodations at work. But it’s just too unreliable. I’m starting to shop around for a product to replace it.
Update: So, I just read more of the reviews, and the app has been TERRIBLE for ALMOST A DECADE!!!!!! Hey, Livescribe! Stop putting out new products until you fix the existing ones!!!!!!!
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Horrible app by 2020 standards
Devs, pay attention. This expensive product of yours (symphony in my case) relies 100% on this software to deliver its value.
This app is bad!
Setting up reminder sync crashes the app on iOS 14.
Your tap area for buttons is WAAAY TOO SMALL. I should not struggle to press buttons in an app in 2020!!!
Navigation is horrible. What’s with the two finger swipe?
Then navigating the UI should respect Apple guidelines. Support swipe back etc.
Spend 1000$ and get a proper UX / UI
I expect a response.
I will wait for 4 weeks for results. Then I’ll review your product on every platform in existence and 1 star you. Until you learn.
This app is bad!
Setting up reminder sync crashes the app on iOS 14.
Your tap area for buttons is WAAAY TOO SMALL. I should not struggle to press buttons in an app in 2020!!!
Navigation is horrible. What’s with the two finger swipe?
Then navigating the UI should respect Apple guidelines. Support swipe back etc.
Spend 1000$ and get a proper UX / UI
I expect a response.
I will wait for 4 weeks for results. Then I’ll review your product on every platform in existence and 1 star you. Until you learn.
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Useless!!
This app is absolutely useless. Doesn’t sync with expensive pen, frequently crashes and is not user friendly. If I could give it zero stars, I would!
Even 5 years later, it’s still crap!
I don’t usually waste time to write reviews, but I’ll make an exception in this case. At least I’ll have the satisfaction to expose this crappy product. I bought my Smartpen 3 “Pro Edition” when it came out at the end of 2014 (before they got acquired by Anoto). I paid $225 + an extra $45 for the iPad Portfolio for a total of $300 CAD after taxes. Big mistake! I never got it to connect. They sent me a replacement pen which I finally managed to connect, but it kept crashing and “loosing” way too much time. My goal was to increase my productivity as advertised and promised in LiveScribe’s marketing scam webpage. I was doing cleanup in my office today and I found my Smartpen. Decided to give it another try hopping that after 5 years they would have fixed all the kinks. PC users: don’t waste your time. It’s still as crappy as it was 5 years ago. It “works” only with my iPad. Did not try with my iPhone
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First pen had poor results, was replaced free of charge by livescribe
Aegir pen lacks a positive on/off but if you charge it at night it’s good for at least a day of use, a fair trade-off for a less bulky pen. App works on my phone without problems, UI needs work. Easy indexing and search would be a help.
Don’t update! I lost my pencast after the app crashes
You made me lose my important information by crashing the app?! What if this is a big thing? You can’t do this to me! Please address everyone’s complaints or nobody will buy the aegir smartpen!
Update: after I installed the latest update, the app keeps freezing when I am writing with my Aegir connected to my phone. DO NOT UPDATE!!!
Update: after I installed the latest update, the app keeps freezing when I am writing with my Aegir connected to my phone. DO NOT UPDATE!!!
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The does not work!
The app crashes at the most unexpecting moments! I end up losing all my recordings! It’s useless to have the digital notes without the recording that was made with it. I have spent a lot of money on your product. Fix your stupid app!!!!
Very poor app
The idea is great and I used to use the app ad pen setup with all my classes. However, lately the app has constantly been crashing every time I want to go back and listen to a pencast. I still use the setup every class to record lectures I hopes that th app won't crash when I try to go back and listen to lectures, but every time the app crashes. This has been a problem for at least two full months and Livescribe has still not fixed the crash. I am currently in the middle of writing three essays that are due in a couple of days, but the app keeps crashing and crashing. I am very disappointed in Livescribe and if the app isn't fixed soon, I will never buy another Livescribe item again, nor will I recommend any Livescribe item to anyone.
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